Seeing Things in a Different Way
by Chibi Zia
Summary: Last of the Seeing Trilogy. Yuriy visits Kai at his apartment. Kai considers buying a working lock. And a shirt. This visits establishes boundaries of a friendship far different from the ones he's used to. My take on Kai Tala friendship. Some humor.


A week passes, and Kai is relieved that it contains no more visitors. It gives him a chance to heal and pass out in _peace_. It gives him a chance to be completely doped up on medicine with no one to see him, also. It's not really a pretty sight. He's not fond of it -- really, he'd rather avoid medicine altogether -- but there are sacrifices he's willing to make so he can have the ability to, say, withstand his cat curling up on his chest without crying out in pain.

It's the little things, really.

The knock on his door isn't the shocker this time around, actually. In fact, Kai rather expected one any time now, considering the G-Revolution hadn't seen him for, gasp, _one week_ and were probably wondering if he was dead. Which, obviously, he wasn't, but they tended to miss the obvious a lot. It's a testament of how much they know Kai that they've waited a whole week before getting worried, really. Kai isn't sure how much he likes that idea. He's never really liked people knowing anything personal about him. After three years, you'd think he'd have gotten used to it, but... Well, old habits die hard.

The shock comes from Kai opening the door (after a few minutes, where the knocking became increasingly incessant) and coming face to face with a different kind of teammate altogether.

Yuriy Ivanov, that is.

Kai stays there for a second, his hand still on the doorknob, staring blankly at Yuriy and wondering if he is hallucinating horribly again because of his pain medicine. He'd switched brands just to stop that, too. As Yuriy simply stares blankly back, one eyebrow raised expectantly, one hand on his hip and the other raised as if to knock again, Kai suspects it is not a hallucination. Kai's hallucinations contain far more violence.

(There is, after all, a reason he switched brands to stop them. They often bordered on nightmare fuel, and Kai is tired of feeling wet when there is no water in his apartment. His mantra of 'You cannot drown because your apartment is flooded with water when it's not even _breeze_-proof' did nothing to reassure him. _Fuck_ water. Fuck _drowning_, more accurately.)

So it stands to conclusion that in front of him is really Yuriy Ivanov, in all his (bandaged) glory. How Yuriy acquired his address is only a mystery until Kai remembers the G-Revolution have become quite fond of Yuriy since the BEGA incident. Screw them and their unrelenting forgiveness that extends to apparently _anyone in the universe_. He ignores that 'anyone in the universe' includes himself, as since he is not sorry for what he has done and he does not _need_ forgiveness. It's perfectly logical.

Yuriy is starting to look impatient. Kai considers, for two seconds, the consequences of slamming the door in his face.

They are out-weighted by the fact that _his apartment is not a driveway_ and if he has to put streetlights in his apartment building his landlord will be severely displeased. He closes the door with a slam and takes a step back as Yuriy swears on the other side (in Russian, of course) and tries to open the door.

Seeing as Kai still has no working lock, he succeeds in opening it (and had Kai not taken a step back he would have opened it right in his face), and frowns heavily at Kai's perfectly neutral expression.

"Generally, that means 'go away'," Kai notes, and Yuriy scoffs in answer.

"_Everything_ you do and say generally means 'go away'. I've learned not to let it get to me. Can I come in?"

Kai considers slamming the door in his face -- again. Yuriy obviously isn't going to take the hint (nobody Kai knows ever takes the hint, which is both a blessing _and _a curse), so it's not worth it. Instead he shrugs and steps away, letting the older Russian come in.

Yuriy does, not bothering to take off his shoes. Kai notes with slight interest that Yuriy isn't walking with a cane anymore, though his slight wobble suggests that he should still be. Pride goeth before the fall in both their cases, it seems. He closes the door behind Yuriy and uses this opportunity to give a small smile of amusement. Pride had landed them a sure part in horror movies as mummies, at least.

Kai turns back, expression carefully neutral as he raises an eyebrow (remembering to raise the visible one, at least) and crosses his arms expectantly, an act that has become far easier since he had gained use of his arm again. Let it never be said that Kai was anything but a quick healer, at least. Yuriy isn't looking at him, however; he's standing critically in the middle of Kai's apartment, hands on his hips and head tilted.

"When they said you lived in a dump, I honestly thought it'd be worse," Yuriy comments, turning back to stare at Kai with a carefully neutral expression. They stare at each other until Kai snorts and moves past him, walking swiftly -- or, well, as swiftly as he can without purposely aggravating his condition. He leans against the far-end wall, casual and unbothered.

Yuriy frowns, and Kai counts this as a victory.

"Though you sure look like you had a number done on you," Yuriy drawls, gesturing to Kai's mostly-bandage get-up. Kai ignores the truth behind that statement.

"Look who's talking," he answers, raising an eyebrow.

Yuriy scoffs, unbothered, gravitating towards Kai's kitchen, or rather lack thereof. Kai refuses to feel self-conscious about it, just like he refuses to feel self-conscious about the bloodstains he hasn't removed from the floor (varying from a few weeks old to almost fresh) or the array of cat toys littering the floor or the fact that he hasn't thrown out yesterday's take-out (half-eaten Chinese food that tastes nothing like it; Kai knows this both from experience and Rei's personal amusement about it) or even his lack of shirt.

He refuses to feel anything because Yuriy has no right to judge and means nothing to him. ... Also because he was actually going to clean up today anyway. After feeding the majority of Bey City's strays. (There is a puppy he is particularly fond of, and a cat who had kittens about a month and a half ago, and the cat he'd almost skewered with Dranzer's new prototype not so long ago who is still wary of him because of it...)

Yuriy looks amused as Kai's cat comes out of hiding -- her current favourite hiding spot is on top of the cupboards, so she jumps down on the counter with a flair, mewing curiously at the intruder in her home. She sits patiently and proceeds to stare at Yuriy. Yuriy stares right back at her, cocking one eyebrow as if in challenge and Kai has to bite back a smile at the impromptu staring match. Yuriy looks away first to stare at Kai instead and the cat purrs slightly, raising a paw and washing it daintily.

"I didn't know you liked cats," Yuriy notes, raising up a hand for the cat to sniff. She does, then bumps her head against his hand. This is his cue to start petting her, which he does.

"What you know about me couldn't fill a teaspoon," Kai answers. He doesn't leave Yuriy time to answer, however, plowing on: "What are you doing here? I'd have thought you'd be back in Russia by now."

The older boy narrows his eyes and stops his pettings (much to the cat's annoyance) to lean over the counter, arms crossed. "If you absolutely must know, your friends thought I should check up on you. They seem to be under some delusion that we're closer than we actually are."

Kai remembers -- _'even _Yuriy_ didn't know where you were_' -- and can do nothing but agree, shrugging half-heartedly. _Should _they be closer than they are? They were teammates, tag-team partners. They share a similar upbringing. They have, above all, an understanding. Yet, Kai is fine where they stand right now. There are questions he almost wants to ask Yuriy, sometimes -- about the abbey. About Balkov. He was there, yes, but his memories of it are few and far between. The strongest is always Kuro Suzaku; the power, the want, the destruction -- Kai remembers waking up in a place he didn't recognize, knowing nothing, not even his own name until his grandfather came along.

Was Yuriy there, back then? Had he been in the abbey all those years ago? Had he seen Kuro Suzaku's raw power, unleashed by Kai's foolish _need_ to be the strongest, to reach perfection... Had he _known_ Kai?

Kai doubts it. Even if it was the case, there's no point in asking. If they had been friends, it was in a time long gone and best forgotten.

Yuriy smiles, crookedly. "You're one stubborn kid," he muses, and Kai glares at him. As far as Kai is concerned, he hasn't been a kid in a long time. "How is it you're so capable of making me feel _guilty_ about letting you down?"

Kai doesn't answer. He's not sure what Yuriy's talking about. Probably the tag-team tournament. Yuriy using him to win the championship; Kai using Yuriy to battle Takao once again. The harsh training in Siberia; Yuriy's constant worry when Kai came back injured.

If Kai didn't know any better, he'd have thought Yuriy was acting as a concerned friend. A wish to protect; worrying about the other... He's done the same.

Are they friends? Everyone else seems to think so. Perhaps Yuriy does, too. Kai isn't that interested in labels. If Yuriy chooses to see him as a friend, he ... doesn't mind.

"You could answer when someone's talking to you," Yuriy says, and Kai shrugs in answer. Yuriy makes a face. "Or not. Bah."

They stay in silence. It's not awkward, or heavy. It's slightly companionable, but mostly, it's just... silence. Like there is no need to talk to reach an higher level of understanding.

Kai thinks of Takao, of Max and Rei and the Professor, of Hiromi and even Daichi. There are ... different kinds of friendship.

"Aren't you going to offer me coffee? I thought Japanese people were good hosts," Yuriy says, face carefully neutral. Kai can tell he's not serious, however; simply pointing out half of Kai's heritage, slightly mocking. Alleviating the atmosphere.

What friends do.

Kai scoffs. "Does it look like I have a coffee maker? If you want coffee, there's a shop three blocks down the road," he drawls. It comes easily.

"There's also a whore house not that far from it, should I take it I've found your workplace?" At Kai's completely blank look (a whore house...?), Yuriy shakes his head. "Bah, never mind. I forget there was a time when even I was young and innocent."

"And here I thought you were always Russian," Kai deadpans, and Yuriy stares at him before laughing out loud; a short, strong and simple 'hah!'.

Kai moves into the kitchen and starts rummaging through his cupboards before Yuriy bothers with a comeback, taking out a tea kettle (electric) and a box of tea leaves. He fills it up under Yuriy's watchful eyes, plugging it in and letting the water boil.

"I'd never have taken you for a tea drinker," Yuriy comments, and Kai shrugs before taking out two mugs. "Do you do tea ceremonies also?"

Kai considers ignoring him, but he would probably take that as a yes. "Does it look like I have the proper equipment?" Kai drawls, and at Yuriy's blank look simply shakes his head. "Whatever."

The kettle -- nothing traditional whatsoever -- finishes boiling, and Kai puts the leaves in the mugs before pouring the tea.

"Graceful," Yuriy drawls, and Kai thrusts his mug at him. He takes it gingerly, sniffing it with a dubious look. "What--?"

"Hōjicha," Kai tells him. Yuriy looks unsure. Just because he knows the language doesn't mean he knows the teas, Kai knows. "Green tea, roasted over charcoal."

Yuriy shrugs and blows on it, softly, before sipping it. Kai doesn't touch his own. He wasn't actually thirsty. And he hates having people watching him eat.

The silence that follows is comfortable.

Yuriy doesn't ask much-needed questions. Yuriy doesn't expect Kai to answer to anything or anyone but himself. It's clear he wishes he would, sometimes, but he doesn't expect it.

There are different kinds of friendships, Kai thinks.

"Don't make them worry so much, hm?" Yuriy comments, switching languages abruptly. "They have a tendency to make an elephant out a fly when it comes to you."

Kai shrugs. "Even if you whittled a spike on their heads, they'd still worry," he answers, also in Russian. Yuriy snorts.

"So long as they don't bother me about it."

Kai hums, picking up his own mug and sipping it carefully.

"You need to change your bandages," Yuriy notes, casually.

"Touch me and I'll skewer you."

Kai will just have to get used to this one.

* * *

Wow, and I thought Kai was weird when guilted.

Last out of the Seeing Trilogy, we have my take at the Kai/Yuriy friendship, which I like very much because their dynamic is not all that nice, not all that friendly; there's a deeper understanding because they're both the same kind of people in a way, but at the same time neither really understands where the other is coming from. Also they both like to shaft the other. Kai is just more difficult to shaft. I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH OF IT CAME OFF THIS. Kai was just. Amusing himself. Stupid Kai. I think this is the shortest of the series. That ... always happens with Yuriy for some reason. (I think he doesn't like me.) I generally put Yuriy at two years older than Kai; Yuriy is not the kind to hold this over Kai so much as be amazed at Kai's natural stupid charisma/leader skills at 14. Does anyone else notice this? When Kai talks, everyone listens. XD; Kai is only HALF Russian, because HIS LAST NAME IS HIWATARI. THAT IS NOT RUSSIAN, GUYS. Technically, there's no proof he's Russian AT ALL, but I like him having some Russian blood, anime-wise. (I have a strong dislike for the manga so we won't mention it.)

This is a more subtle piece, I think. Err. Hōjicha is a real kind of Japanese green tea. It literally translates to 'roasted tea'. 'To make an elephant out of a fly' is a Russian saying that equals making mountains out of molehills in English. 'Even if you whittled a spike on his/her/their head(s)' is also a Russian saying, said of someone ultimately stubborn or recalcitrant. I did my research because they wanted to be nationalistic. The weirdoes.

... And yeah, Kai was still shirtless. ;)

Hope you enjoyed it!

-Zia


End file.
